CONTENTS

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis visited the 17th high school in the
Peristeri municipality of west Athens on Friday morning, where he
attended the traditional commencement of the new school year.

Addressing the pupils, the prime minister stressed that today's youth
are a generation familiar with computers, noting that "you are light
years ahead of my generation", and referred to the government's new
measure for the distribution of laptops to the first-year high school
(7th grade) pupils introduced as of this academic year.

He noted that the 7th grade school books, those for the children who
will be receiving coupons for the acquisition of their laptops, have
already been uploaded on the …nternet, while 13,000 schools have
already created "digital communities".

Karamanlis added that all secondary schools have at least one
information technology lab. The coupons will be distributed to the 7th
grade pupils throughout the country beginning in the next few days,
while the entire process is slated for completion by Oct. 31.

The prime minister urged the pupils to make their best effort, adding
that "you are rewarded with your effort".

"School is valuable for another reason as well: it is the staircase of
social life. Make good use of it. You need to make good use of this
time with dialogue and by speaking openly with your teachers,"
Karamanlis added.

The premier also told the pupils that the day was a special day for his
own family, too, since his twins were going to first grade for the
first time.

Regarding the new flu, he recommended adherence to the rules of
hygiene.

Turning to the teachers, Karamanlis said their work and contributions
are recognised, adding that "we are fully aware of the difficulties you
face in the performance of your duties".

The prime minister later visited the pupils in their separate
classrooms.

Earlier, Education Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos said that the "major
hazard" was not the new flu itself, but fear, panic and insecurity,
warning that "all those who invest in those are mistaken".

Caption: Costas Karamanlis speaks with pupils of the 17th public high
school in Peristeri municipality on Friday 11 September, the first day
of the new school year. ANA-MPA/PANTELIS SAITAS

An Athens misdemeanor courts' council on Friday ordered the release on
bail of two defendants in the ongoing high-profile Siemens
investigation, namely, former Hellenic Telecoms (OTE) executive
Georgios Skarpellis and former Siemens Hellas executive Ilias
Georgiou.

A 300,000-bond was set for each of the men, with restrictions against
traveling abroad.

The domestic car market grew strongly in August, recording the highest
percentage growth rate in the last decade with 22,845 new car
registrations in the month, reflecting a government move to cut a
special consumption tax on vehicles.

A report by the Association of Car Importers and Dealers said
registrations were up 15.3 pct in August, compared with the same month
in 2008 and helped ease losses suffered in the previous months of the
year. The Greek car market shrank by 18.3 pct in the eight-month period
from January to August (169,429 sales), down from 207,411 in the
corresponding period in 2008.

Opel (2,479) ranked first in August, followed by Suzuki (1,681) and
Nissan (1,594).

Nissan‚s Qashqai was the most successful vehicle of the month with
1,104 sales.

Greek stocks ended higher during the last trading session at the Athens
Stock Exchange on Friday. The composite index rose 0.66 pct to end at
2,527.11 points, with turnover a moderate 206.6 million euros, of which
34.2 million euros were block trades.